Virtues of memorizing the Quran
"Alif Laam Raa. A book which we have revealed to you (Muhammad) so that you
may lead the people from out of the darknesses into the light by their Lord's leave
to the path of the All-Mighty, the Praiseworthy."
[Qur'an14:1]
It is one of the noblest acts to be engaged in the Qur’ân by memorizing it and
learning it. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever reads one letter of
Allah’s book will be rewarded one good deed and the good deed doubles to ten times.
I do not say “Alif Lâm Mîm” is one letter, but Alif is one letter,
Lâm is one letter, and Mîm is one letter. [Sunan al-Tirmidhî]
This hadîth does not differentiate between those who understand Arabic and those
who do not. Moreover, the example chosen by the Prophet (peace be upon him) is not
something that has a meaning that even an Arab can understand. However, there is
virtue in its very recitation.
Admittedly, a Muslim should learn Arabic in order to understand the Qur’ân and to
understand his religion.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Learn the Qur’ân, preserve it, and recite
it in a beautiful, musical manner, because it is swifter in escaping (from your
memory) than the camels are from their hobbles. [Musnad Ahmad]
This hadîth shows that memorizing the Qur’ân is a virtuous and rewardable act. The
Prophet (peace be upon him) also encourages us to recite the Qur’ân beautifully,
and he encourages us to revise the Qur’ân often lest we forget what we have memorized.
Whoever memorizes Qur’aan and acts upon it, Allaah will reward him and honour him
greatly for that, so that he will rise in status in Paradise to a level commensurate
with what he memorized of the Book of Allaah.
Al-Tirmidhi (2914) and Abu Dawood (1464) narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It will be said to
the companion of the Qur’aan: Recite and rise in status, recite as you used to recite
in the world, for your status will be at the last verse that you recite.” This hadeeth
was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 5/218, no. 2240,
after which he said:
Note that what is meant by the “companion of the Qur’aan” is the one who memorizes
it by heart, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “The
one who knows more Qur’aan should lead the people in prayer,” meaning the one who
has memorized the most. The differentiation in status in Paradise will depend on
how much was memorized in this world, not how much one will recite on that day as
some people imagine. This clearly points to the virtue of the hafiz who has memorized
the Qur’aan, but that is subject to the condition that he memorizes it for the sake
of Allaah, not for worldly purposes or financial gain. Otherwise the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Most of the hypocrites of my ummah are
among those who have memorized Qur’aan.”
Concerning the virtue of the hafiz who memorizes the Qur’aan, al-Bukhaari (4937)
narrated from ‘Aa’ishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “The likeness of the one who reads Qur’aan and memorizes it is that he
is with the righteous honourable scribes. The likeness of the one who reads it and
tries hard to memorize it even though it is difficult for him, he will have two
rewards.”
For the hafiz who has memorized the Qur’aan, praying qiyaam al-layl is easy. And
the Qur’aan will intercede for him on the Day of Resurrection, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Fasting and the Qur’aan will
intercede for a person on the Day of Resurrection. Fasting will say, ‘O Lord, I
deprived him of food and desires during the day, so let me intercede for him.’ The
Qur’aan will say, ‘O Lord I deprived him of his sleep at night, so let me intercede
for him.’ Then they will both intercede for him.” Narrated by Ahmad, al-Tabaraani
and al-Haakim; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 3882
And Allaah knows best.
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